Every Time a Bell Rings
by aquamarinetiger98
Summary: Arthur and Alfred were lovers. Then a gunshot took Arthur, and Alfred's world died. Six months later, Alfred is still grieving. Then, during an office party, he meets the one person he never expected to see again. USUK. Story adopted from voodoogirl360. Rated T because of extensive 'vocabulary'. Bad cover is bad.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

"_Arthur…Please don't do this to me!" Alfred desperately clung to his lover's hand as he lay on the hospital bed, his breathing shallow and ragged. "Please don't die!"_

_The man on the bed looked over at him. He smiled weakly._

"_Come on now, Alfred…Is that…any way to act?" He winced as a fresh spasm of pain struck him. "It's just a bullet…The great…Arthur Kirkland…won't die from something…as trivial as this…"_

"_But the doctors said…"_

"_I don't care what the bloody doctors said!" Arthur looked at him fiercely. "I love you, Alfred F. Jones, and I am not leaving you like this! I-" Suddenly, his face went slack, and he began jerking uncontrollably. Alfred panicked._

"_Arthur? Arthur, come on!" He dashed out into the hallway, crying for help. "Someone, please! Artie's dying!" A nurse hurried over. Arthur was still seizing up, coughing up blood. The nurse hurriedly pressed the emergency call button on the wall. She began setting up an IV, probably to give him another blood transfusion. Alfred rushed back to his lover's side. Arthur had stopped coughing, which was good, but he was now limp and unresponsive. Alfred began panicking. "Oh my God! Arthur, say something!" Unconsciously, he began crying. "I can't lose you, Artie…" He began crying in earnest. Then, he felt a hand begin patting him gently. He looked up to see Arthur. His eyes were distant, which frightened Alfred._

"_Alfred…I'm so sorry…" He started coughing again, then focused upon Alfred once more. "If I don't make it…just know I truly love you…and I'm sorry we didn't have more time…" He fell back onto the pillow, as if speaking was an effort. His eyelids began to flutter closed. He chuckled._

"_Come on, Alfred…Smile for me…I always love it when you smile. It's like the sun, shining on me. I'd like to see it…one more time." Alfred was close to a complete breakdown, but he weakly smiled back, feeling like it took all his efforts. Arthur smiled as well. He looked peaceful at last._

"_There we go..." He closed his eyes. "Good-bye, Alfred…and thank you for a lovely time…"_

_The pillow seemed to sink a little, and for a moment, Alfred thought he heard a soft breeze. Then the heart monitor began beeping frantically. He hadn't noticed it, but the room had filled with doctors during this scene. The first nurse immediately ran forwards with a defibrillator, pushing Alfred aside. "Clear!" she shouted, and Arthur's body jolted with electricity. For one instant, Alfred felt a wild, unreasonable hope that Arthur would live. Then the beep grew continuous. A doctor shook his head sadly._

"_Time of death: 11:03 PM."_

_The doctors and nurses filed respectfully out of the room. Alfred stood there for a minute in shock. Then he fell to his knees, howling with grief, clasping the hand that had once belonged to Arthur Kirkland._

* * *

_Up until Chapter 4 everything is copied from what voodoogirl360 originally wrote. After that it's my writing. Enjoy the story~!_

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya**

**Story adopted from voodoogirl360**


	2. Chapter 2

Alfred leaned back in his chair. He really didn't feel like working today. This wasn't surprising, though: he never felt like working. He vaguely wondered why he had this boring office job when he could be out doing heroic stuff. Then he remembered. Arthur had pressured him into taking it after hearing about his financial state. His expression immediately turned stormy. It had been 6 months since Arthur had died, and he still hadn't completely gotten over it. He looked around for something to take his mind off the subject.

Just then, the main door swung open, and Gilbert Beilschmidt, the manager, strode in. Oh boy. The other workers looked up from their work to see what was going on.

"OK, listen up, grunts! The awesome me has an important announcement!" Alfred sighed. The others groaned as well. Announcements from Gilbert were never good.

"So anyways, the higher-ups have decided to be generous and give you a chance to socialize. So guess what?" He grinned triumphantly. There was silence. He looked around irritably. "You're supposed to say, 'What?'" Francis Bonnefoy, one of Gilbert's best friends, dutifully played along.

"What?"

"WE'RE GONNA HAVE A PARTY!"

Everyone began cheering wildly. Even Alfred smiled. He hadn't been to a party in a while. Gilbert looked smugly around.

"I know, right? We're getting together with _mein_ awesome _bruder_, Ludwig. It's this Saturday! Me, Francis, and 'Tonio will be lending our awesome DJ talents to the party. You all had better be there!" With that, he walked out, slamming the door behind him. The room gradually settled down to its usual tepid state, though there was still an undercurrent of hubbub about the party.

Alfred chuckled. Then he turned back to the depressingly large mound of paperwork on his desk. He sighed, and dove in resignedly. Work was so _boring._

* * *

I yawned and stretched, then took another sip of my tea. Being office tea, it tasted slightly artificial, but tea was tea. Besides, with the state of excitement the office was usually in, I needed something to calm me down or I would go crazy.

Kiku, my best friend, came over and stood beside me. He smiled softly at me.

"You seem tired, Arthur-san. Did you get enough sleep last night?" I shook my head.

"Not nearly. I…had to go out and do something…work-related." I felt guilty about lying to Kiku, but he'd never believe me if I told him the truth.

You see, I'm supposed to be dead.

My name is Arthur Kirkland. When I died, 6 months ago, I was given a choice: Either go to Purgatory and spend the rest of eternity waiting, or become a probationary angel. Naturally, I chose the latter, so now I'm back here on Earth until I can do 1000 good deeds. This can be a blessing and a curse. The worst part is that when I became an angel, I had to sever all ties to my old life. That meant losing Alfred. Leaving him and never seeing him again. I wasn't even allowed to contact him. I miss him so much. I stared out the small window in the break room, thinking about the past.

"…ur-san? Arthur-san!" Kiku's voice broke me out of my reverie.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, Kiku…" Kiku smiled.

"It's fine, Arthur-san. I hope your business went well last night." He glanced up at the small wall clock. "Ah, break time is over. We should go back to the main office." I nodded, and followed him out of the door. After I was resurrected, I was given an apartment far from our old one and a job at the nearby software company. As fate would have it, Alfred worked at another branch of the same company. Yet another reminder of him. I shook my head, trying not to focus on it. I sat down at my cubicle, and turned towards the stack of paperwork that awaited me. I was about to start on it, when the main door opened, and Ludwig Beilschmidt, the branch manager, walked in. He cleared his throat, and everyone instantly fell silent.

"Attention, everyone! I have an important announcement to make. Apparently, _mein_ idiotic _bruder_ has decided to take steps to 'strengthen relationships between the branches'. Being who he is, Gilbert has determined that the only logical way to do this is to throw a party." Cheering predictably erupted. Ludwig cleared his throat again, and it grew quiet.

"The party will be held at the local community center this Saturday at 9:00. Please bring some sort of food. That is all!" He turned abruptly to leave. Just as he was about to close the door, there was a loud crashing noise from the direction of the supply room, and a series of flustered "Ve~"s. Ludwig turned on the spot, exasperation etched on his face.

"Feliciano! What the hell have you done this time?" he barked, now going at a full sprint. Kiku jumped up and hurried after him, frantically trying to calm Ludwig down. Then Feliciano burst out of the supply room, somehow on fire. The room erupted into chaos as Feliciano raced around frantically, with Lovino, his brother, yelling furiously at Ludwig, while Kiku tried to get Feliciano to 'stop, drop and roll'. I sighed, putting my head in my hands and desperately trying to ignore the chaos. Sometimes I wondered if I should have gone to Purgatory instead.

* * *

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya**

**Story adopted from voodoogirl360**


	3. Chapter 3

_I panted, running hard and not daring to stop and catch my breath. Behind me, the heavy footsteps of Matthias Køhler and his cronies sounded through the alleyway. I cursed my foolish sense of pride as I ran. How had I possibly thought that I was ready to pull off a heist this big?_

_I began gasping for air, my lungs burning, but I couldn't stop. Matthias was renowned amongst "The Gang" for never letting a thief live once he was captured._

_Suddenly, my foot hit an errant stone, and I tripped. I tumbled head over heels. I hastily scrambled to my feet, but it was too late. Matthias' right-hand man, Lukas Bondevik, tackled me, and I took a dive for the second time that night. This time, I had the sense to stay down._

_Lukas dragged me roughly to my feet, my hands still firmly secured behind my back. I struggled, but to no avail._

_Then, my blood ran cold as Matthias stepped forwards, flanked by Tino Väinämöinen and Berwald Oxenstierna. He smirked._

_"Hello, Arthur."_

_"Get away from me, you piece of filth," I spat at him. He frowned._

_"Oh come on, Arthur, is that any way to act?" His face returned to its usual smirk. "We're all friends here, after all."_

_"As if. I know you're going to kill me no matter what." He sighed._

_"Regretfully true. But maybe you'll favor me before you go with the name of whoever put you up to this?"_

_I snorted. "I'll never tell you anything."_

_"I was hoping you wouldn't say that." He clicked his fingers, and Berwald stepped forward. "Berwald, our little thief grows tiresome. Go ahead and dispose of him."_

_Berwald nodded, and pointed his pistol at my chest. I couldn't tell what he was thinking as he cocked the gun. I closed my eyes, and waited for the impact._

_It felt like fire, ripping through my body and tearing me apart. I slumped to the ground, in too much pain to speak. Matthias smiled coldly._

_"Goodbye, Arthur," he said, and walked off, his henchmen trailing behind. My vision was blurred and hazy. Was I really going to die here in this alley, a nobody?_

_I leaned back against the wall, groaning with pain. My ears were ringing, and everything was becoming black. Suddenly, I heard hurried footsteps. _Good_, I thought to myself._Someone's come to put me out of my misery_. I looked up, and saw the worried face of a young man with sandy blonde hair and ocean blue eyes framed with wire-rim glasses. His face was the last thing I saw before I passed out._

* * *

_My eyes opened with a start. I immediately sat up. Then a searing pain in my side nearly made me black out again. I slumped back down, wincing._

_"Whoa, careful, dude. I don't know what happened to you, but it's probably not a good idea to sit up just yet," a voice said from nearby. I turned towards the sound, to see a young man sitting on the couch. I recognized him as the man who'd found me before I passed out. He grinned. "Hi! My name's Alfred F. Jones. Who're you?"_

_I scowled. "None of your business." Alfred pouted, and crossed his arms._

_"Aw, come on! It's only fair! I mean, I told you mine." I rolled my eyes. "Besides, I can't keep calling you dude. That'd just be weird." He looked at me eagerly. "So come on! What is it?"_

_I sighed exsperatedly. "Fine," I said. It couldn't hurt if he just knew my first name, right? "Arthur. It's Arthur."_

_Alfred smiled brilliantly, and shook my hand, helping me to sit up. "Cool! Nice to meet you, Artie!"_

_I spluttered. "Wh-Who gave you permission to call me Artie!?"_

_"I don't need permission, 'cause I'm the hero, and heroes don't need permission to do anything!" He flashed a thumbs-up and struck a heroic pose._

_I flared up, blushing. "Y-you _git_!" I pounded my fists ineffectually against him, Alfred laughing uproariously. This was going to be one long night. _

* * *

_Cute moments with Arthur and Alfred ladies and gents._

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya**

**Story adopted from voodoogirl360**


	4. Chapter 4

"Woohoo! Party time!" Alfred punched a fist in the air. As predicted, the prospect of a good old-fashioned party had cheered him up immensely. Plus, with Gilbert hosting, the party was sure to be a winner. He could be annoying at times, but _man_ did he know how to entertain.

He straightened his tie, and smoothed down his hair one last time. Then he burst into the community center's gym. He was instantly met by a cacophony of flashing lights and loud dubstep. The gym was already jam-packed with people. Just then, Gilbert walked by, wearing a Rainbow Dash T-shirt and covered in glowsticks. He looked over, and noticed Alfred.

"Alfred! Come on in, dude! Looking awesome!" He fist-bumped Alfred, then smirked. "I gotta go back to my post of Awesome Co-DJ! Catch you later, bro!" He disappeared into the crowd of people. Alfred waved after him, then began to make his way through the crowd to where he could see a refreshments stand.

He pushed and shoved his way through the throng. It was so dark that he could barely make out anyone's face. There were occasional flashes of light from the central stage. Gilbert had apparently made it back onstage, as a loud voice cut through the crowd.

"All right, folks! It's time for the karaoke section of our awesome party! We'll pick someone at random from the audience, let them pick a song, and then good luck to them!" He made a strange noise that sounded like a cross between a laugh and a hiss. The spotlights unified into one, and began roving around the crowd. Finally, at a signal from Gilbert, they stopped in the middle of the crowd, highlighting someone. Alfred could make out scruffy blond hair. Francis and Antonio appeared from nowhere, and went down into the crowd, bringing the unfortunate man up onto the stage.

Alfred's heart stopped.

There, on the stage, was a relatively short man with wild blond hair, bright green eyes, and outrageously thick eyebrows. He had a roguish grin on his face, and teetered slightly as he walked to the center of the stage.

Alfred stood there, not daring to believe his eyes. It was impossible! He had died! For Christ's sake, he'd been _in the room_ when it had happened!

But his eyes and his heart were both telling him the same thing: The man onstage was, without a doubt, the one and only Arthur Kirkland.

* * *

Arthur wobbled around on stage a bit as he got his bearings. Gilbert whispered into his ear, and he whispered back. Gilbert nodded, then walked back over to the mixtables. A moment later, the music started. He immediately began singing.

_If I die young, bury me in satin_

_Lay me down on a bed of roses_

_Sink me in the river at dawn_

_Send me away with the words of a love song_

Tears began to form in Alfred's eyes. He wanted to leave, get out of there, but he stayed, transfixed by his lover's voice.

_Lord make me a rainbow I'll shine down on my mother_

_She'll know I'm safe with you when she stands under my colors, oh well_

_Life ain't always what you think it ought to be, no_

_Ain't even grey but she buries her baby_

_The sharp knife of a short life, well_

_I've had just enough time_

Alfred could see Arthur start to falter in his words. The crowd cheered him on, oblivious.

_If I die young, bury me in satin_

_Lay me down on a bed of roses_

_Sink me in the river at dawn_

_Send me away with the words of a love song_

_The sharp knife of a short life, well_

_I've had just enough time_

The crowd had begun to fall silent now, noticing the emotion behind his voice.

_And I'll be wearing white, when I come into your kingdom_

_I'm as green as the ring on my little cold finger,_

_I've never known the lovin' of a man_

_But it sure felt nice when he was holdin' my hand,_

_There's a boy here in town, says he'll love me forever,_

_Who would have thought forever could be severed by_

_The sharp knife of a short life, well,_

_I've had just enough time_

Alfred couldn't take it anymore. He began shoving his way through the crowd. Arthur kept singing, fully engaged in the song.

_A penny for my thoughts, oh no, I'll sell 'em for a dollar  
They're worth so much more after I'm a goner  
And maybe then you'll hear the words I been singin'  
Funny when you're dead how people start listenin'_

_If I die young, bury me in satin  
Lay me down on a bed of roses  
Sink me in the river at dawn  
Send me away with the words of a love song_

With a final push, Alfred broke through to the front of the stage just as Arthur stopped singing. Just then, he noticed the commotion. He stared down at Alfred.

For a moment their eyes met. Alfred could see surprise, fear, and a hint of…regret?

Then he turned, and pelted offstage, bumping into people left and right. Alfred hurriedly gave chase.

* * *

Crap. Crapcrapcrapcrapcrap. I ran blindly out of the gymnasium, ignoring the confused and annoyed looks that passersby shot at me. Seconds later, the door burst open once more, and I could hear footsteps right behind me.

This was bad. I'd broken the taboo law, let him see me. How could I have been so careless? I skidded around a corner, desperately searching for the exit doors. Luckily, Alfred had never been very good on his feet. I winced slightly as I heard the inevitable crash. Under normal circumstances, I would have taunted him behind my back, but that would make things even worse.

I smirked to myself. Luckily, there was a reason why I had never been caught in a heist (well, except for that one run-in with Matthias, but that was beside the point, and anyways, I would have gotten away if I hadn't tripped-but I digress).

At last, I spotted the exit doors, and made a beeline towards them. Alfred was hot on my heels, however, and made a move to block me. As if that could stop Arthur Kirkland. I began speeding up, and tensed in preparation. Then I grabbed his shoulders and pushed off. Flipping neatly over Alfred, I continued in my mad dash towards the exit. Alfred didn't take long to recover from this shock, and was almost immediately tailing me once more.

I turned corner after corner, beginning to pant with exhaustion. Finally, I entered a large plaza, with plenty of shoppers milling about. Perfect. I dove into the crowd, and mingled quickly, taking my glow-sticks off for good measure. I slowed to a casual walk, and prayed he wouldn't see me. I watched him from afar, looking over each person in the crowd. Finally, he gave up in frustration, stomping away. I watched him go, sadly. Then I walked on, back in the direction of my apartment. That had been too close.

* * *

_This chapter gets me every time I swear OAO_

_Next chapter is where I come in andruinthestory._

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya**

**Story adopted from voodoogirl360**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I closed the door with a sigh and looked around my apartment. Running into Alfred was truly the last thing I had in mind when I went to that party. I ran a hand through my hair. God-he'd most likely heard me sing! Damn Francis-and those two other foreign friends of his. If I hadn't gone on stage Alfred probably would have never seen me, and I could have spent the rest of the night chatting with Kiku over another glass of champagne-or perhaps whiskey. Come to think of it, maybe I did take a shot or two at the party. Probably why I managed to muster enough courage to saunter onstage and sing in front of a crowd of people.

At least my little escape managed to sober me up.

Turning around I checked that the door was locked. There were no sounds of running coming from the hallway, it reassured my growing paranoia that no one had followed me.

Good.

Looking about, I realized I had gotten home a lot earlier than usual. It was Friday. I had today off because of the party, but since Alfred chased me out, I ended up leaving the party a_ lot_ earlier than I intended to. The sun was setting outside, but for a night person like me, the day was far from over. I groaned, going to that party was a stupid idea. I should've known that Alfred was going to be there. Now that he'd seen me, I could only hope he would forget about it.

I walked into my bedroom. Maybe I'll break the habit of the lifetime and sleep early for once, there was nothing else I could do. Lights off, and I took off my shoes and the casual jeans that I had worn to the party. Too tired to take off my T-shirt, I slipped under the covers and involuntarily let out a little sound of contentment. The bed felt incredibly comfortable on my back, and I let my legs relax under the blanket.

But then that reminded me of Alfred, and how life with Alfred would seem so much better. Ever since I'd come back to Earth I couldn't stop thinking about him.

I stared blankly at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep.

"Alfred..."

* * *

Some days, Alfred wondered to himself whether he was going crazy.

When he saw his love standing in the spotlight, singing the song in that beautiful voice, his mind thought for a fraction of a second that he had finally lost it and was hallucinating. But everyone else was there. Everyone else had heard Arthur sing. People had dodged him as he dashed desperately through the crowd, running away from him.

That was definitely Arthur, _his_ Arthur, and Arthur had been running away from him while he chased after him as if he were a piece of paper fluttering through the wind, slipping just out of his reach.

Why?

Alfred hastily wiped the hot tears from his face as he made his way back to the party. It was all so real, and yet so unbelievable. He'd seen him, heard him, touched him, ran after him (his head still hurt from crashing into that wall); but the information just couldn't register itself in his mind. How did that happen? Wasn't Arthur...dead? The doctors had pronounced it. Even so, if it had really been the Arthur he loved...

Why was he running from him?

Alfred cursed as he felt another fresh batch of hot tears well up in his eyes and almost slapped himself in his effort to prevent them from flowing. He stumbled wearily through the gymnasium, opened the doors, and got back into the roaring party crowd. People were dancing, chatting, eating, and having a grand time in general. Old friends were getting together and new ones were being made. There was even the occasional couple, slow dancing, oblivious to everything else around them. Just about everyone was wearing neon-colored glow sticks (courtesy of Gilbert) that shone brightly in the semi-darkness of the large room. Alfred thought gloomily to himself of the glow sticks that he had seen Arthur-or at least, the person that he thought was Arthur-wear. Maybe he should pick up a few for himself. He caught snippets of conversation as he passed by others.

"Did you hear about...?"

"Michelle, meet Stanley, Stanley, Michelle."

"Oh my, you look dashing tonight darling."

"Someone needs to change the song..."

Alfred ignored them all. He wandered around the room a bit, trying to collect his thoughts amid the vibrant chatter and blaring music. Finally, he found a stray chair in the back of the room not far from the ginormous refreshment table. He snatched a cookie and started munching on it slowly, deep in thought.

By the time he was finished eating, Alfred had managed to come up with a few decent conclusions on his situation.

Arthur was at the party, and it didn't seem like he was new to the company either, so he was most likely an employee of the company. Of course, Alfred hadn't seen him since he'd died-and definitely not where he worked. That meant that Arthur must have worked in the other branch, and it was thanks to this joint-party that he had been able to catch sight of him. This made looking for him a lot easier. The other branch wasn't exactly close to where he worked, but at least he would know where it was.

He was going to find Arthur.

And he wasn't going lose him a second time.

* * *

_Listening to "Incomplete" while writing this was a bad idea._

_Now I feel really angsty._

_Enough about me, and more on the story! I managed to post the first self-written chapter in my adopted story! *cheers*_

_I love this story a lot ;w; I thought it was a shame that it should be left incomplete (no pun intended to my previous comment) so I got permission to adopt it. This will be my little project aside from 'Hamburger Hospitality' since I decided to keep the word count around what the author originally had. It's easier that way and its a nice change to move around with my plots. :D I may make the chapters a little longer as I go on, but this is as far as I dare go so far, so sorry if it seems shorter than my usual 3,000 word + chapters._

_Hopefully I did an OK job of continuing this story, I don't want to ruin it! Please review, I hope its good. A Let me know about any errors!_

_Toodles~_

_aquamarinetiger98_

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya**

**Story adopted from voodoogirl360 **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_My side still hurt like hell as I sat on Alfred's couch. He was a strange one, Alfred. I still wasn't quite sure how he managed to take me into his house. It's not everyday you see someone shot and dying in an abandoned alley. I guess he didn't have the sense to call the police. That actually worked out in my favor. Things wouldn't have turned out so well if I had to explain what I was doing getting myself shot at in the dead of the night. _

_After he'd managed to get me to calm down a little, Alfred had gone into the kitchen to get the two of us something to drink. I had a fleeting moment of hope that it would be whiskey. I got to try it once or twice. The first time I did, I had disliked the heavy taste of alcohol and spat it out. I was a lot more accepting the second time. Alfred probably didn't have whiskey with him though. He looked young, about my age._

_"Artie I'm back!" He waltzed into the room with a smug expression on his face, as if he was hiding some sort of wonderful secret. In his hands were two cans of soda-Coca Cola. No whiskey I guess._

_"About time," I shifted uncomfortably on the sofa and winced, "I'm thirsty."_

_He laughed, an incredible sound, his smile lighting up his face and making his eyes-_

_I cursed my inner thoughts. What the hell was I thinking? Why was I even letting him call me that anyway. I-It wasn't because it sounded nice when he said it-nope._

_"A 'Thank you' for your hero would be nice." He said, grinning and handing me an ice-cold coke. He sat down next to me and popped open his can, gulping most of his drink down. I stared blankly at his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he drank. He noticed and put his drink down with a little sigh, tilting his head to look at me._

_"What's a matter?" Alfred snapped his fingers in front of me, making me blink, "You okay dude?"_

_This finally woke me up. My response was to glare and open my can of coke as nonchalantly as possible._

_"I'm fine, and for the record, you are not my 'hero'."_

_"Hey!" That really riled him up for some reason, "Of course I'm your hero! I saved you and everything!"_

_Cue sun-shine smile again._

_"Saved me?"_

_He nodded._

_"But...why? You don't even know who I am."_

_"'Cause I'm a _hero_ Artie! That doesn't matter. You were hurt, so I had to save you."_

_"And your idea of saving me was to bring me to your house?"_

_I wanted to hear how he was going to explain that one._

_"W-Well I-!" He looked flustered for once, "You ah-I live kinda nearby so I just decided to bring you to my house and patch you up first!"_

_"Mhm." I gave a distant nod and sipped my coke. Alfred did likewise. The two of us sat there for another couple of minutes until my side began to hurt again. I frowned and put down the can on the coffee table, putting a hand on my side. "What...did you do anyway?" I asked._

_His expression grew dark, "Does it hurt?" _

_I looked at him a little suspiciously "Yes...?"_

_To my surprise, he set down his coke and pressed his hand onto me gently-right where it hurt, bringing himself a little closer than what I was used to being with anyone else. And if my side hurt like hell before, you can bet this hurt _a lot_ more._

_"Ow! What do you think you're doing?!" I hissed,_

_"So it does hurt."_

_"We've already established that!"_

_To my even greater surprise, he ignored my protests of personal space and lifted up my shirt. I stopped mid-rant at the sight. There were thick lines of bandages wrapped around my waist, but what was more disturbing was the ghastly amount of blood that was seeping through them. I had to quickly put a hand under myself to stop the blood from staining the sofa. My damn bullet wound. That's why it hurt so much. I glanced at Alfred, he looked stricken._

_"It opened again..." his blue eyes darkened, "Wait a sec Artie, I'll be right back."_

_He left the room, and came back holding a fresh roll of bandages and a scissor. I watched in sheer bewilderment as he lifted my shirt up a little higher, and the heat rushed to my cheeks. I stopped blushing as soon as he began taking off my bandages. I almost bit my lip through trying to stop from screaming and bring the whole place dow-_

_"Agh!"_

_"S-sorry-!"_

_"No I..." This awfully nice git, "..it's...alright." _

_"It's not alright Artie," His face turned into a child-like pout, "You're hurt." He turned his attention back to my wound and began to dab at it with something I couldn't make out. From the way it stung, it must've had medicine or disinfectant. That hurt like hell too. The fact that he had my shirt up halfway and had his eyes concentrated on my body was not helping. After what felt like eons, he finally cleaned it and finished bandaging. My shirt was returned to its rightful length. _

_Alfred took one look at me and laughed._

_"W-What is it?"_

_"Your face! You're red all over, Artie!"_

_"Am not!"_

_"I'm not joking man! Look-" he half-pulled half-dragged me to a mirror. My face was indeed a fascinating shade of red. That was what I noticed at first, but then my eyes found something else. The two of us where standing together in the mirror, the oval shape framing us like a portrait. Alfred had his hands on my shoulders, smiling into our reflections. It...was...quite a pretty picture._

_"Whatever." I turned away from the mirror, not wanting to prove his point, or look at the scene any further. Besides, the great Arthur Kirkland did not enjoy losing. Sore loser, I know. But I had no idea what to do, I didn't even know how to get back to the living room. My side ached again._

_"You should get back to bed." said Alfred_

_"And where exactly would that be...?"_

_"Oh right!" Alfred beamed and put a hand on my back, he walked me through his apartment and opened a door to what I assumed was a bedroom. _

His_ bedroom._

_I was far too exhausted to put up another fruitless argument with him, or to raise a question about anything else, so I let him lead me to bed. I climbed in carefully, fully clothed, and closed my eyes. There were some shuffling sounds and I felt the bed shift. Someone whispered in a soft voice: "G'night Artie." and I fell fast asleep._

* * *

_The reason I'm updating this so much faster than "Hamburger Hospitality" is because these are shorter and I actually have like 90% of the plot down. ^ ^; But I have not abandoned my other story, if anyone was wondering about that! _

_I tried writing these dorky dorks. They are very hard for me to write. But I try. ;w; I like the plot so much *w*._

_And the chapters are starting to get longer. Oho~_

_Please R&R I really do appreciate constructive criticism. Seriously. I do._

_Have a nice Mother's Day! ^ ^_

_Toodles~_

_aquamarinetiger98_

**Hetalia belongs to Hidekaz Himaruya**

**Story adopted from voodoogirl360**


	7. Author's Note

**Author's Note: **Hello there! Sorry if you thought I had finally updated a new chapter. But I see a lot of my fellow writers doing this, so I decided I might as well do the same. I apologize for being gone just about all summer, but I seriously needed a break from my larger fics and I still have a load of summer work I need to finish. I already wrote a few one-shots just trying to start writing better again, because although I do enjoy writing very much, it is not my absolute source of interest and comfort, unlike some of the amazing writers you find on this site.

Please forgive me for not updating this sooner and try to understand my situation here ^ ^;;. I'll try to get to a new chapter as soon as I feel I am good enough and ready to go. Until then, thank you for reading and following!

**- aquamarinetiger98**


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